The Curse of Velma Dinkley
by LoveofVelma
Summary: Sequel to "Hanging Around". Velma had a plan to convince Shaggy to stay with Mystery Inc but she ends up revealing more than she planned. Will she get Shaggy to change his mind or will he leave for good?


The Curse of Velma

Disclaimer: Scooby Doo and all related characters are owned by Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros.,and Cartoon Network. All other characters, names, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, events, places, and incidents is coincidental.

My inner species translator is all warmed up.

A Change of Plans

It was a warm day in Coolsville and best of all, the park was empty. Everyone had joined the media frenzy after Mystery Inc. had taken care of the monsters and unmasked the villains. Shaggy and Velma walked slowly along, still holding hands. Shaggy picked up a stick, waving it in front of Scooby, then threw it. Scooby ran after the stick; glad to relax and have fun after their harrowing experience.

"So what's the plan, Velma?" Shaggy lowered his head, expecting...something but not sure what Velma had in store. Velma looked at Shaggy, her childhood friend, now adult friend. She removed her hand from his before replying,

"I admit I had a plan. I was going to hit you with all the logic to convince you to stay..."

"And what happened? You change your mind?"

"Yes, I changed my mind. Women do that you know."

"So now what?"

"I'm not going to do any thing to stop you. You are old enough to make your own decisions and smart enough to live with those decisions. You want to go, then go. I only want to know one thing: Why? What made you decide to leave?"

Scooby had returned with the stick, dropping it at Shaggy's feet, waiting anxiously for him to throw the stick again. Shaggy threw the stick, remaining silent for a moment, thinking how to say what he wanted to say.

"You saw the kiss between Fred and Daph?" As much as he wanted to, he couldn't look at her, watching Scooby instead.

"Yes, about time Fred stopped acting like an ostrich and got his head out of the sand." She could have added more but Shaggy had to do this in his own way; if she pushed too hard, too fast, he'd just clam up and wouldn't talk and that had been the plan all along. Shaggy had always kept his feelings bottled up inside. Oh, he'd run from anything that scared him but hadn't they all ran at some point.

"And you and Patrick seemed pretty chummy."

"I've only met Patrick recently; way too early to call us a couple. Why shouldn't I date Patrick?"

"No reason I guess. He seems like a nice guy."

"He is, Shaggy. He's the first guy to treat me like I didn't have a curse, like I was normal."

"Curse? What curse?" Shaggy had never heard of Velma having a curse of any kind.

"I've had the curse for as long as I can remember. My curse is that I'm too darn smart! I said I always wanted to be like you and Scooby; what I didn't say was I wish I wasn't as smart as I am. Why do you think I was allowed to take tests in a different room during school. Because everyone wanted to copy off my test paper! How do you think that made me feel? Like a mutant! Different from every one else. And dates! You know more than anyone about my dating history. I've cried on your shoulder more than once."

"Velma, I never..."

"But you have!" she interrupted, "and that hurt most of all. You probably don't remember and I won't blame you; it happened one day...

---------Velma's flashback---------

"It was hot in Coolsville, one of the hottest on record. I was playing with Daphne at her house when her dad came home for lunch.

"It's so hot, Marlyn, I think you could fry an egg on the sidewalk!"

Well, that was all we needed. Daph got an egg and being the smart one I ran home and snitched a couple pieces of bacon, we'd need some oil. Daph had just cracked the egg when you and Fred rode up on your bikes with Scooby running along beside your bike.

---------Flashback break---------

"Do you remember the names you guys gave your bikes?"

"I do remember that day, Velma. You looked so cute in that little girl sun dress. Fred named his bike 'Blue Streak', mine was 'Black Beauty'. It was the first bike I bought with my own money from the paper route. Fred and I added wire baskets on front to carry stuff."

-------------Flashback continues---------

"You guys were headed toward the city pool to cool off from the heat. I think Daph had a thing for Fred even then," Velma smiled, "with that red hair and the way she batted her eyelashes, it wasn't hard to get Fred to offer her a ride. I wanted you to ask me to go, to _ask_ me. You finally did, when I just stood there when Daph ran inside to get her swimsuit. No one was paying attention to Scooby and he grabbed the bacon and ran off to eat it! I ran home the fastest I've ever ran to get my one piece; mom wouldn't let me get a two piece like Daph's purple one.

"Did you know that was the most fun, riding on your bike with you? The wind blowing through my hair, the feeling of leaning back against you as we rushed through town. I remember we nearly ran over old Mrs. Anderson.

-------------End Flashback----------

"Shaggy, WHY DID'T YOU ASK ME OUT? I wanted you to but you never did. You treated me like I had a curse like every other guy until Patrick!

"Shaggy, you said that Mystery Inc would survive without you. No, I don't think it will. Oh, we'll go on but Mystery Inc won't be the same; it'll die a natural death because one of the most important pieces will be missing.

"I've never known you to be a quitter. But if you want to quit just because Patrick wants to show me some attention, then quit. Run away. Because that's what you'll be doing!

"Good bye, Shaggy." With tears making their way down her cheeks Velma bolted, running away.

"What do you think, Scooby?" Shaggy looked down at his canine friend.

"Why ask me? What do I know about human love? I'm a dog!" Seeing that Shaggy wasn't going to throw the stick, Scooby picked up the stick himself, throwing it into the air.

"Velma! Wait up!" Shaggy ran after her. She didn't stop running until he caught up with her. He grabbed her arm, spinning her around, "Where do you think you're going?" He wiped her tears away with his thumbs.

"You're leaving, WHAT DO YOU CARE WHERE I GO?"

"I care about you, you silly girl," he kissed a last tear away, "I always have." lifting her chin with a thumb.

"Really? Do you really care about me? Are you going to stay?" He wrapped his ams around her waist, pulling her close.

"I guess I better, I don't want you hanging around with another guy. Guys can change their minds too you know." Their lips met, gently at first, then more firmly as their kiss deepened.

'Or have their minds changed for them' Velma thought, intensifying and returning the kiss.

"Want to hang out at the pizza joint with me?" Shaggy asked, finally breaking the kiss.

"I wouldn't think of hanging out with anyone else." She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck, drawing his head downward to resume their kiss.

Scooby looked over at his two best friends, smiled and threw the stick into the air. This was going to take a long time.

The End

A/N: I could ride my first bike fine. My only problem was stopping, the only way I could stop was to run into something. We had a big oak tree in the back yard...


End file.
